Corrupted file associations

[anandc]

I beleive my registry got corrupted from install/uninstalling programs on my pc (win98). Files such as gifs, jpegs, mp3s, docs, etc no longer have any program association to them. In addition to this, when I double click on a "now" unassociated file such as a gif, it creates a .exe file of the same name. I have no idea why the hell that happens. It leads me to believe that I may have a virus, but I have ran 3 seperate virus scans and all came up empty. To top all this off, when I try and run regedit.exe, nothing happens. I read a previous post that said that this happens due to a "love letter" virus and to rename the regedit.exe file to regedit.com. Once I did that regedit seems to be working. Does anyone know the exact name of the virus that caused that?? And how do I totally eradicate it from my system?? And what other problems does that cause?

Also, I have tried to restore older versions of my registry using scanreg /restore, but I got a message saying that the restore operation failed. I have also tried using Regclean.exe and using scanreg /fix. None of these have fixed my registry.

If anybody has any tips on how I can clean up my registry without having to reinstall windows, please let me now.

[RWSchlatter]

"...I beleive my registry got corrupted from install/uninstalling programs ..."
just by that you cannot corrupt your whole registry. you may leave some trash but that should not hurt you.

"...Files such as gifs, jpegs, mp3s, docs, etc no longer have any program association to them..."
this can happen if you install multimeadia programs line MS Windows Media Player, Apples QuickTime or RealPlayer - each "fight" for the priviledge to play your files. If you assing to one of these programs and then drop the program, the accociations are not re-installed.

"...and to rename the regedit.exe file to regedit.com..."
now that would let me believe that your machine is suffering from a virus infection. Did you run the anti-virus scans from your hard disk or did you run from the Emergency Diskettes (as you can make for several of these apps - of course before infection!) ? And had your signature files been uptodate ?

"..., I have tried to restore older versions ..."
cannot tell what happened here.

"...I have also tried using Regclean.exe and using scanreg /fix. None of these have fixed my registry. ..."
These do not restore missing associations, nor fix any virus infections.

"...Does anyone know the exact name of the virus that caused that?? ..."
From what you describe, hardly to determine.

"...And how do I totally eradicate it from my system?? ..."
assuming your system has been affected by a virus, you would need to run anti-virus software off a protected diskette of off a CD. Then you would be told which virus is bugging your machine. After that either the anti-virus software self can remove infected items, or you can get instructions from the manufacturers site for manual handling of the problem (this info is usually also available to non-customers).

______________
Regards - Richard